HIRUDO. 29 
an apothecary’s for comparison, they proved at least thrice the size of 
any of his stock. They had been taken by a person accustomed to the 
capture of leeches as a source of emolument. Here, of late years, they 
had become scarce at the places previously affording them. 
Speculative persons have suggested the expediency of attempting to 
breed the Medicinal Leech in sufficient numbers in Scotland, for the 
purpose of dispensing with foreign supplies. I recollect, during the Pen- 
insular war, that they had become extremely scarce, and were sold at 
an extravagant price. I doubt not that the experiment might succeed 
to a certain extent, though it might be only one of curiosity. 
Dr Fleming, a learned and zealous naturalist, the Professor of Na~ 
tural Science in the New College of the Free Church of Scotland, lately 
apprised me of an interesting fact as within the sphere of his own know- 
ledge. Above twenty years ago an apothecary, whose name I forget, 
dwelling in the town of Cupar in Fife, having a convenient rill of water, 
together with a pool in his garden, succeeded in breeding the Medicinal 
Leech. Penetrating the sides of the pool, the animals there deposited 
their ova or capsules, one of which Dr Fleming shewed me. It is of a 
singular nature, a perfect ovoid, of spongy texture, thick sides, and com- 
paratively large diameter. It is of'a greyish, brownish, or yellowish colour. 
Each of such capsules contains several young. 
Breeding the Medicinal Leech is rendered the source of profit on 
various parts of the continent of Europe. 
M. Moquin Tandon suggests the expediency of promoting its mul- 
tiplication, and refers to a letter of the same year, from M. Chatelain, 
acquainting, that from 1140 adults he had obtained 7000 young. 
Until recent years the Medicinal Leeches reached Scotland by rather 
a circuitous route. They were imported chiefly from Sweden through Lon- 
don, from dealers following that trade exclusively. An apothecary having 
commissioned ten thousand, as he informed me, they were packed among 
grass in two large bags, and sent by sea. Two hundred and fifty perished 
on the passage, which occupied ten or eleven days. Numbers of five 
hundred or a thousand are said to be conveyed in a bag without either 
